a mothers daily grind

When things are hard.

Undone. Aka: the sermon series at church that is reaching into the depths of my soul; rearranging, challenging, and restoring it’s contents. Disclaimer: I suck at being real sometimes. I’m trying,I often want to show everyone my perfected self, not the part that needs work. Here’s to being open and real, because there is NO other way.

Psalms. We think of them primarily as songs filled with joy. They also include lament. I understood it best when put this way:

There are 3 types of Psalms:

Psalms of orientation (life is good).

Psalms of disorientation (life hurts).

Psalms of Reorientation (hope in darkness, surprising new life).

We (generalizing American people) are super comfortable with the “life is good” Psalms. Why? Because life IS good. God has blessed us immensely. There is no doubt in that. During these times, it’s good to sing, to dance, to live dangerously for Christ. There is energy for it here. I’m a HUGE believer in looking on the bright side, but the bright side is NOT a constant.

Real life hits. Like a hurricane, disaster can come quick and destroy even quicker. When life actually hurts, when it doesn’t make sense, when it’s not just lonely, it’s painful. When giving up is the next step. This is a little more uncomfortable to talk about, because people often don’t know what to do with it.

It will be over soon…grin and bear it…it could be worse!

We wan’t to fix it, so we can move on to the comfort of life being good.

But what about the times when it’s not? What about embracing the uncomfortable?

Pastor Mike, put it this way:

“We know these 3 things: God’s goodness is absolute. This world is full of evil. God makes good out of evil”

We can sing, we can dance, we can live dangerously in Christ during the hard times too. We just have to be honest about them. When we’re hurting, it doesn’t mean we have done something wrong. God loves us in our hard times, just as much as in our good. David writes Psalms for these times, too.

Disorientation is real. It’s healthy. It’s necessary, and it’s all around you. You may not know it, because we have been programmed to put on an act. When asked how are you, we are expected to response, “great…_______(super busy, God is good, etc)”

Just like getting old, we stuff it, because it’s uncomfortable. We have surgeries and we hide our elderly in homes. Death is uncomfortable. So let’s pretend like it’s not there. Let’s fight it and move on.

He wants it all. Prayer is a place to be honest, not a place to say the right words.

We can’t carry pain alone, we weren’t made to. We need to be okay with not being okay.”

I am challenged to be okay with not being okay. Furthermore, to be a person who is comfortable when other’s are not okay. I long to sit in discomfort, instead of trying to cure it.

Be real with me. Start today. If you are having hard times, embrace them. Praise through them by being HONEST. You aren’t strong enough to be “okay” and alone during your hard times. Tell someone, reach out. If someone is going through a hard time, let them. Don’t try to cure it. Embrace the uncomfortable, because it’s real. It’s hard, and it’s everywhere.

Thanks for reading and let me know what you think.

Xo, JH

Also- if you need someone to tell or sit in hard times with you, message me, please.